Trees, shrubs or suffrutices. Stipules present, caducous (in ours). Leaves simple, entire, alternate, usually with 2 glands at the base of the lamina or apex of petiole. Flowers bisexual, slightly zygomorphic (in ours), perigynous. Sepals 5. Petals 5. Stamens 2-many. Ovary superior with 3 carpels, one of which fully develops; each carpel 1- or 2-locular. Fruit a fleshy drupe. Worldwide: 17 genera and 460 species, tropical, especially occurring in America. Caprivi: 2 cultivated genera and 5 cultivated taxa. |
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